Just thought I’d mention that a few weeks ago I was playing around with an algorithm that simulates elasticity and I came up with this little game-esque program.

Instructions:

• Use your mouse to move the blue ring around the screen. You’ll see a smaller blue dot that follows it.
• There are two things your snake can do: Eat and Shoot - but it can’t do both at the same time! When you’re blue you are normal and can do either; when you’re eating you turn green and you can’t shoot; when you’re shooting you turn red and you can’t eat. The snake will return to its normal blue state when it’s finished eating or shooting
• Eating: Move your mouse so that the small blue dot collides with the orange ring… as these rings cause the snake to grow, they can be thought of as food.
• Shooting: Click your left mouse button and the last node in the snake to detaches, subsequently making the snake shorter. If/when I make this into a proper game, this is how the snake will attack the baddies.
• Continue eating the food and you’ll see that the snake grows by one node each time.

There are no limits imposed on how long you can make the snake - though your computer will start to slow down before long.

I showed this to my two young nephews and they loved it - it was really nice getting that reaction.

If you’re interested in helping me make this into a game, let me know.

Link: Elastic Snake